Chapter 74: Traces That Should Have Vanished
The white marble floor of the private laboratory was covered in shattered glass from microscopes and test tubes. Luigi Volskey stood in the center of the room with his breath coming in short, ragged bursts. His hands, clad in black leather gloves, still gripped an iron chair. He raised the chair high and slammed it onto the main workbench. The computer screen cracked and went dark instantly. A clear chemical liquid flowed from the edge of the table, dripping slowly onto his expensive leather shoes.
"Search every inch of this place. Don't miss a single folder," Luigi yelled. His voice echoed loudly against the soundproof walls of the room.
Several large men in black suits forced open the filing cabinets in the corner. They pulled the metal drawers until they came off their tracks, then threw piles of paper into the air. Important documents fell scattered on the wet floor. In another corner, an old man in a white lab coat was trembling violently. Hans, the head researcher and a trusted confidant of the Volskey family, looked down deeply while clenching his fingers until his knuckles turned white.
Luigi walked toward Hans. Every step of his shoes on the broken glass made a sharp crunching sound that broke the silence. He stopped right in front of Hans. His right hand reached out, grabbing the collar of the old man's lab coat and pulling him up forcefully to stand straight.
"You think I am stupid, Hans? You think I cannot track what you have been doing in this place?" Luigi asked in a low voice. His eyes bulged, staring intensely into Hans's eyes which were beginning to tear up.
"I truly do not understand what you mean, Mr. Luigi. I was only doing my routine work here," Hans answered in a hoarse voice.
Luigi laughed softly. The laugh sounded dry and very cold. He pushed Hans's body until the old man's back hit the wall hard. Luigi then turned around and pointed toward the only monitor screen that was still on the opposite desk. A genetic data graph with red and blue lines was clearly displayed there.
"Routine work? You call this secret DNA testing routine work? The data does not lie. I had my men hack into your computer system tonight. And do you know what they found in your hidden folder? A one hundred percent match with my brother's lineage," Luigi said. He hit the desk nearby with his fist. "Agatha. The woman who is now Xavier Valois's wife is my niece. The child who was supposed to have died twenty three years ago."
Hans froze. He did not dare to look at Luigi's face. Cold sweat flowed from his temples, falling onto the collar of his wrinkled shirt.
"Tell me, Hans. How did that child escape? That incident should not have left anything behind. I saw the state of that car myself after the accident. It was completely destroyed. Not a single person survived that horrific event. My brother, his wife, everything ended that day," Luigi emphasized every word that came out of his mouth.
Hans took a long breath through his mouth. He tried to calm his heart which was racing much too fast. "I was only following the orders given to me, Mr. Luigi. I know nothing about that accident or how the child survived."
Luigi frowned deeply. "Whose orders? Who dared to give you orders without my knowledge? I am the head of Volskey operations."
"Mr. Cardios," Hans answered quietly. "Your father sent that sample to me personally last week."
Luigi stood still. He turned his body to face Hans completely. "Father? Father sent that woman's DNA sample to you?"
"Yes, sir. Mr. Cardios asked me to perform a DNA test without recording it in the official company lab logs. He used a private communication line. I did not even know where the hair sample came from or who the subject was until this test result came out and the system automatically matched it with the main family database," Hans explained.
Luigi closed his eyes for a moment. His jaw tightened. "So father knew first. He suspected Xavier Valois's wife's identity and conducted this test behind my back."
"Mr. Cardios may have his own reasons for staying silent, sir. He never told me anything. I am just a researcher. I only read what the genetic code says on the screen," Hans said, trying to defend himself.
"Damn it," Luigi cursed. He kicked the iron chair nearby until it flew and hit the wall. "So all this time father hid his suspicions from me? He let that seed stay alive and reappear without giving me a single warning?"
"Mr. Cardios did not want to lose any more family members. He may have been monitoring the child from a distance all this time," Hans said in a cautious tone.
Luigi pulled a pistol from behind his black suit. He stepped forward quickly and pressed the muzzle of the weapon right in the center of Hans's forehead. The cold metal made Hans close his eyes tightly.
"Do you know the risk of hiding this result from me, Hans? You let the greatest threat to my life grow up. Agatha is not an ordinary woman now. She is an assassin trained by Dark Sky. She has Volskey blood in her veins. If she knows her true identity, she will come looking for me. She will demand her rights," Luigi shouted right in front of Hans's face.
"I did not dare to disobey a direct order from Mr. Cardios. He is your father, the holder of the highest power in this family by tradition," Hans said with trembling lips.
"But now I am the one in control!" Luigi lowered his pistol, but his hand was still clenched tight. He realized there was one crucial thing that always made him feel threatened, an object that gave him the absolute legitimacy he never received.
"Where is that dagger, Hans?" Luigi asked suddenly. His voice became very flat.
Hans opened his eyes. He looked at Luigi with confusion. "What dagger, sir?"
"Do not play dumb with me. The leadership dagger of the Volskey family. The dagger with the gold hilt shaped like an eagle's head. I searched for that dagger at the scene back then, but my team never found it among the wreckage of Leonard's car. Without that object, my position before the council of family elders will never be truly absolute. They always doubt me because that dagger is missing," Luigi said.
Hans shook his head slowly. "I swear, sir. I know nothing about that dagger. Mr. Leonard never spoke about that object to me. I only handle lab matters."
Luigi looked into Hans's eyes searching for a lie, but the old man seemed to truly not know. Luigi walked back and forth in the middle of the messy room. He tried to piece together the events of the past. He remembered when Leonard shook his hand on the night before that final journey. Leonard looked at him with a look that was very calm, too calm for someone whose position was being threatened.
"Leonard took it," Luigi muttered to himself. "He knew the situation was not safe. He realized his position was threatened from within. He must have given that dagger to someone before they left. He gave it as a birth gift as well as a final farewell."
Luigi stopped his steps. His mind went to one name that had suddenly disappeared right after the accident happened. The person most loyal to Leonard.
"Why has father been silent all this time," Luigi said quietly. "If father knew Agatha was still alive, why did he let me lead this company? Why did he not get rid of me?"
"Because he still hoped you would change, Mr. Luigi. He lost Mr. Leonard, and he could not bear to see his other son destroyed. Keeping this secret might be the only way he maintains balance so you can continue to lead without being disturbed by the past," Hans answered.
"Father's hope is useless. Power is not shared with hope," Luigi said sharply.
Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard from the entrance of the lab. A well built man entered with a tense face. He held a handheld tracking device in his hand.
"Mr. Luigi, there is news from the signal tracking team," the man reported while bowing slightly.
Luigi immediately turned around. "Tell me."
"We managed to track someone we have been looking for for a long time. That man named Silas just appeared on our debt collection radar in the outskirts," his subordinate explained.
Luigi took a step closer. "Silas?"
"Correct, sir. He has a massive debt with one of our business lines, and now his debt has increased because he is proven to have hidden information about Agatha all this time," the man reported.
Luigi clenched his fist very hard. A cold and satisfied smile slowly appeared on his face. He had finally found the end of the tangled thread that had been binding him. Silas was the person who held the key to where that dagger was.
"Silas," Luigi whispered. "Finally you have come out of hiding."
Luigi turned toward Hans. The old man's face turned pale hearing Silas's name mentioned. Luigi knew very well, Silas was the main key. Silas was the person who took Agatha away, and Silas must know where the eagle head dagger was hidden.
Luigi looked back at his subordinate. "We leave tonight."
"What about this old man, sir?" his subordinate asked while pointing at Hans.
Luigi looked at Hans for a moment, his eyes showing not a bit of pity.
"Bring him with us. Silas will be much more cooperative when he sees his old friend coming along and realizes that his debt of life is much greater than just money," Luigi ordered with a voice as cold as ice.
"Mr. Luigi, I beg you! I have nothing to do with Silas anymore!" Hans screamed as two men in black suits held both his arms and dragged him rudely toward the door.
Luigi did not care about the screaming. He stood tall in the middle of the destroyed laboratory. His eyes stared sharply toward the exit.
"Bring Silas to me. Dead or alive, he must give me that dagger," Luigi stated firmly.